Max Picks …songs from 1962

1962

I hope you like instrumentals…because this one has three. Let’s start this off with one of the best instrumentals of all time. Booker T. and The MG’s would keep releasing their groove songs through the sixties. An incredible array of talent with Booker T Jones, Lewie Steinberg, Al Jackson Jr., and the great guitarist Steve Cropper. The song was written by Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Lewie Steinberg, and Al Jackson Jr. Lewie Steinberg would be replaced in 1965 by Donald “Duck” Dunn.

Because of the Ken Burns documentary on baseball…every time I hear this song…I can see Sandy Koufax’s left arm making magic in Dodger Stadium with pastel colors in the stands.

Bruce Channel‘s Hey Baby is a great song that was released this year. The harmonica part is catchy and will stick with you. Who was playing that riff on harmonica? No other than  Delbert McClinton. He would later give John Lennon some lessons on the instrument in Hamburg. It was written by Margaret Cobb and Bruce Channel. Here is a bit of trivia for ya… This was the first Hot 100 #1 song with an exclamation point in its title.

Dick Dale…what a guitarist he was. This song is up there with my favorites. Miserlou was released in 62 and still sounds great today. Pulp Fiction helped to make it popular in the 1990s with a new generation.

Otis Redding had a voice that was like no other. Sam Cooke had a smooth-as-silk voice but Otis could give you both. He could sing a ballad and then turn around and growl a song.

The legendary Joe Meek wrote and produced this song. This was an adventurous instrumental record for the time and ahead of its time. The song blasted off for the Tornados. An instrumental with space sound effects, this was inspired by the Telstar communications satellite, which was launched shortly before this song was written. Telstar no longer functions but still orbits the Earth.

An overdubbed Clavioline keyboard provoked spooked space effects, while a backward tape of a flushing toilet evoked all the majesty of a space-bound rocket.

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

70 thoughts on “Max Picks …songs from 1962”

  1. These are so fun. The instrumentals win again. The Tornadoes song makes me think of a roller skating rink.

    These Arms of Mine was used in Pirate Radio. That’s what I think of when I hear it now.

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    1. Telstar reminds me of a carnival at night for some reason…but I can see a roller skating rink also. I also think back to a movie called That’ll Be The Day with David Essex and Ringo Star that took place in that era of Telstar.

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  2. “Telstar” was a phenomenon – not just the song, but the satellite. We would go out at night to try to see it orbiting – when satellites were a novelty.

    Booker T and the MGs, of course, made history not only as themselves but as the Stax/Volt house band.

    Not using “The Twist” in 1960 has fallout again this year – though originally a Hank Ballard song, the #1 single was by Chubby Checker. Checker followed up that hit with “Twistin’ USA” (also 1960) then “Let’s Twist Again” (1961), “Slow Twistin'” (1962), then Joey Dee and the Starliters hit with “Peppermint Twist” in 1962. (Lead vocal, not by Joey Dee, but David Brigati, brother of Eddie of the Young Rascals). Sam Cooke hit with “Twistin’ the Night Away” that same year. And “The Twist” hit #1 again in 1962. Not to mention “Twist and Shout” (Top Notes, Isley Bros, Beatles). And there were more. “The Twist” was arguably one of the more influential songs, not only spawning a ton of other Twist songs, but also caused a stampede to write other songs for particular dances (including Mashed Potato Time, Loco-Motion, and Wah Watusi, all in 1962).

    Thanks for another trip down Memory Lane – each of your lists gets me to listen to other stuff from that year – like Clyde McPhatter’s “Lover Please”.

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    1. The one that hits me the most leaving out was the last year…
      Stand By Me…I may make a list of the songs I don’t use and use them after we get to the end in one huge post. I’m probably going to end in 1994.
      Thank you for the songs! I’ll go back when this ends.
      This is a fun project

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      2. In the 80s I will dissappoint a lot of people…because I didn’t like most of the top 40…I liked the Alt bands…although there are some I did like. Come On Eileen and some others.
        I appreciate you reading.

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      2. That reminds me of a Groucho line that I’ve used on people at work and they looked stunned…
        “I have nothing but confidence in you and very little of that”

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  5. ‘they don’t write ’em like that anymore’, as Greg Kihn would say. Instrumentals that is! ‘Telstar’ and ‘Green Onions’, two of the all-time greats from that category. A good one from Otis too, needless to say.

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    1. Green Onions remains one of my favorites of all time…it has a soul and R&B feel to it. I like the rest also…

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  8. First of all, fantastic picks! Thanks for throwing in several instrumentals, especially the three you picked. Booker T did some fantastic instrumentals in the ’60’s; my favorites are “Hang ‘Em High” and “Time is Tight.” “Misirlou” is a song you hear all over the Middle East, which shows that Dick knew his music. And “Telstar” gives me images of the great promise of outer space we all had in the early ’60’s, when we all wanted to grow up and be space engineers. Kind of got killed off in the ’70’s I’m afraid.

    It don’t get much better than Otis Redding from those days. He did a whole lot more than “Dock Of The Bay.” And thanks for finding out who played the harmonica on “Hey! Baby”….

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    1. Thank you John… it was the era of the instrumentals no doubt. You had The Ventures, Duane Eddy, Dick Dale, and more.
      Telstar belongs in a category all it’s own. Joe Meek was ahead of the curve with that one. He was using backward sounds and everything else. It’s still interesting today.

      I agree…Otis Redding was so much more than Dock of the Bay. Not only on record but live.

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  9. All great songs Max. A couple of my other favorites of 1962 include “Only Love Can Break a Heart” by Gene Pitney, “He’s a Rebel” by the Crystals, “The Loco-Motion” by Little Eva, “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Elvis, “Stranger on the Shore” by Mr. Acker Bilk, and yes, even “Sherry” by the Four Seasons.

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  11. I did NOT know about the backwards loo flush in ‘Telstar.’ And you said ‘space-bound’ t00! Here the image that comes to mind on ‘Green Onions’ is a hot rod clip with ‘GO’ as the background track that the old NZBC TV played pm the odd occasion they had a gap in the schedule. Never ever happen these days, with every spare second sold to the highest bidder! This was way before the hot rod thing became nostalgia, there were dudes actually on the streets with their open exhast lowered V8s, looking mean, chirping their tyres at every set of stop lights… But those were simpler slower times…

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    1. I watched a biography on Joe Meek. He went to the bizarre way before anyone else did that we know of. He was in 1967 before… 1967.

      I’ve read where movies have instant flashes of commercials in them at theaters. So quick that our mind picks it up but we don’t…so yes…everything goes to the highest bidder these days. They will be streaming them in our dreams before long.

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      4. Fogerty does come first… but I would say..
        Talking Baseball by Terry Cashman
        Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball? Count Basie
        I don’t if it counts but Springsteen with Glory Days.
        And the classic…Take Me Out To The Ballgame…I remember Vin Scully singing it at Chicago filling in for Harey Carey…Scully had a good singing voice….but of course!

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  14. Miserlou is a timeless classic and thanks be to Tarantino for giving it just-deserts and exposing it to a younger audience.

    I hadn’t heard ‘These Arms of Mine’ by Otis before. Fantastic! Another case where the verses are much better than anything else.

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    1. Miserlou reminds me of Pulp Fiction…well you read what Green Onions reminds me of…the sixties that I didn’t know and not the hippie part.

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      2. I love that movie! It’s different…I like the dialog…I know yesterday they were having a problems with reader

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  17. Great picks, and a nice variety to them. ‘Telstar’ will always be an all-time classic. I never knew what the Dick Dale (great name) song was called, or who played it, despite hearing it so many times… And boy does Bruce Channel rock a cardigan in that video. I didn’t think he’d look so grandpa-ish!

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    1. Telstar is in a class by itself…Joe Meek was exploring all kinds of recording techniques before most others.
      Channel was part of the older guys…or older in their ways lol “grandpa-ish”…that is good!

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  18. Great picks, Max. “Green Onions” is one of my all-time favorite instrumentals. Dick Dale’s “Misirlou” is a true classic as well. And when it comes it Otis Redding, I feel you basically never can go wrong. He was such a great vocalist. That track by The Tornadoes was entirely new to me. “Adventurous” is a good characterization!

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    1. I’m with you on Green Onions…what a cool in the groove song.
      Telstar was so ahead of it’s time Christian. He was doing backward things…slowed down and sped up. If you ever get a chance look up Joe Meek. A troubled and complex man but he was into that way before the late sixties…this was 1962!

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  19. Pingback: Max Picks …songs from 1962 – MobsterTiger

  20. Danny Kaye did a song D-O-D-G-E-R-S Song (Oh, Really? No, O’Malley). That is such a great romp. Easy to find on You Tube. Not rock and roll, not by a long shot, but still fun, especially for Dodgers fan.

    I should offer, my favorite Dodger was Vin Scully. I’m not much of a sports fan. 🙂

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  21. I posted something last night about Baseball songs. Danny Kaye did a song “D O D G E R S (Oh Really No O’Malley)” that I loved when I was a kid. When Dr. Demento would play it on his radio show I was reminded of just how much, and of course what a hilarious artist Danny Kaye was. As for baseball, well, my favorite Dodger was Vin Scully.

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  22. “I Can’t Stop Loving You” by Ray Charles was, according to a Billboard Year End review, released in 62. So was “I Know” by Barbara George and “Ahab the Arab” by Ray Stevens.

    That source also says “Surfin’ Safari” by the Beach Boys was released in 1962.

    All of these songs get replayed in my mental juke box.

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  23. I found this and had to share.

    https://www.psaudio.com/blogs/copper/the-a-m-records-story-part-one

    First of all, for the A&M Records story.

    Second, for all the other stuff going on in this website.

    It ain’t mine, but I think y’all will enjoy.

    Just a tiny bit of tantalizing trivia: Chris Montez had a million-seller with his 1962 hit single “Let’s Dance.” Performing with Tommy Roe, Montez was one of the artists who had a burgeoning British band open for him: the Beatles. 

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      1. Messing with real estate in Los Angeles is commonplace and not a big deal. Messing with real estate in Hollywood is not a big deal. Messing with a known historical site like the old Charlie Chaplin located a couple of blocks from Hollywood High School which is down the street from Hollywood and Highland and the Chinese Theatre is strongly ill advised for trumpeters and frogs.ll

        All told, Alpert did a lot for the community

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